Jack realized that one of his old originals could be crammed into a reel. All he had to do was slightly change the melody and stretch a few syllables. As soon as Kevin came to the end of the bar and was about to go for another round, Jack joined in.

There was a man from a distant land,

Who dreamed a dream bright and grand,

He gazed upon the stars in the sky,

His dream was to reach them and shine.

He reached and stretched with all his might,

To pluck a star from the endless night,

But far away they seemed to be,

No one told him 'bout gravity.

He tried once, he tried twice,

He paid his dues and rolled the dice,

But in the end, what's the point in trying,

When the stars are so defying.

The best musicians play their tunes,

Underneath the silver moon,

But in a world that runs on fame,

It's hard to find a lasting name.

For a moment, Jack felt like he had left his body and become one of the spectators. He wasn’t thinking. He was just hearing himself singing. The pigs swayed happily together with the song's beat, and the birds watching from above chirped and trilled, joining in.

It had been a while since he sang this song, one of the last ones he wrote. He kept expecting to hear himself trip over a word or forget a line, but he was surprised by how well he could still recall all the lyrics. It had been a while since he sang at all. The last time was when he had serenaded Lydia.

He met Lydia on a windy Autumn day, just as leaves started changing colors. He was on one lunch break from one of his dead-end jobs, having had enough of the rancid coffee from the store’s old, rusty coffee machine. As the proper Portuguese man, he had decided to go for some real coffee.

He had sat outside, looking out the street, when Lydia appeared beside his table with a beaming smile, her short black hair rustled by the wind and piercing sky-blue eyes contrasting against the reds and browns of Fall. From then on, Jack made sure he stopped at the cafe every day.

The job at that hardware store had been the one he’d hung on to the longest. It wasn’t because he cared for it but because he cared about the coffee and seeing that gorgeous waitress one more time.

She turned him down flatly when he finally mustered the courage to ask her out. The second time, she did so even more vehemently. But he hadn’t given up. He wrote her a song, appeared at her workplace one day, and sang it for her in front of all the customers and colleagues. That’s how he convinced her to go on their first date.

All these memories flashed through Jack’s mind as his lungs, diaphragm, throat, and cords worked automatically, singing an Irish reel in an underground lab for an audience of animals and a cranky handyman. Mr. Kevin finished with a quick scale that culminated in a glissando, and Jack was confident that if pigs and birds could clap, they would have.

“You have a good rhythm and a mellow voice!”

Jack had never seen Master Kevin this excited. He had never sung a song with just a flute, but it worked! “T-thanks, Master Kevin. I wasn’t expecting you to ask me to sing like that. I thought you would teach me how to play the flute.”

Master Kevin smirked. He had done it on purpose! “You don’t need me to teach you how to become a musician.” He clasped his shoulder. “From what I heard just now, you already are one.”

Congratulations! You’ve become a [Novice Bard].

You’ve learned [Major Scale].

You’ve learned [Self-Taught].

Synergy detected between [Novice Bard] and [Journeyman Potter].

You’ve learned a new pottery recipe: [Earthenware Ocarina].

Jack’s jaw dropped. That was it? He just sang a song, and, bippity boppity boo, he had learned a new minor? Just like that? Becoming a potter and a bushcrafter required completing a series of little tasks, but becoming a bard was surprisingly easy. All it took was for him to sing a tune, and he was immediately rewarded with the profession.

Jack hurriedly opened the details of the new minor.

Bard (Minor)

Description: The singer of songs and teller of tales. As a bard, you spread joy and folly as you pour your soul into your performances and move the hearts of your listeners.

That was just too generic. He checked the two bard skills, hoping to find more clues for what this minor did.

Self Taught, Lvl. 1

Description: Practice makes perfect. You can learn to play any instrument by spending a little time on it.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Effects:

Do 100 major scales in an instrument to unlock its mastery and instrument-specific skills.

Major Scale

Description: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, B, A, G, F, E, D, C.

“That’s it? This doesn’t explain anything!”

After many disappointments, he wasn’t too hopeful about the recipe generated by the synergy between his two minors. He had never played flute instruments, just the guitar and the bass, and he had certainly never made a musical instrument. The idea of making a clay ocarina was surprisingly appealing.

Earthenware Ocarina

Ingredients: 4x[Earthenware Clay]

Recipe: Shape and hollow out two matching clay halves, then join them, ensuring they are airtight. Add a mouthpiece and create a windway, then puncture finger holes and a sound hole on the body. Let the ocarina dry completely, and tune it by adjusting the finger holes.

Clay Molding, Lvl. 3

Self-Taught, lvl 1.

Handyman, lvl. 10.

It turned out to be the most descriptive of the bunch, but it still didn’t answer any of his questions. What was the point of this minor? To make pigs dance? How could he progress in it? What was the point?! Jack reread the windows and tried to understand this minor that had fallen on his lap. Here he was, trying to be rational and come to the best choice of a minor to synergize his current assortment of professions.

Suddenly, he was given a minor that hadn’t been featured in any of the lists he’d read online. Did he want to become a bard? Did he want to dive back into music? All those hours of practice and effort had gotten him nowhere in the past. He had promised himself he’d never get wrapped up in music again. At the same time, wasn’t music how he had won over Lydia’s heart?

He thought back to the relief he’d felt after singing. It was as if he had purged his soul, and a weight had come off his shoulders. Music filled a little of the void that Lydia had left. It hurt and soothed him at the same time. Looking inward, he found that putting it in the balance did more good than bad. Maybe it was time to give music one more chance.

Master Kevin had already moved on to attend to another task. He headed toward a large pot, checked for enough fuel in the stove underneath, and grabbed a massive wooden spoon. It was so large that Jack wouldn’t be surprised if he could also be used as a weapon.

Sighing, he headed back to Master Kevin’s armchair and went online. “Bard. New Earth.” There were few hits. One was a link to a video. In it, a large bear, as tall as a tree, roared and slashed with his claws at the group of players surrounding him. It was hectic, but there was another sound underneath all the roars, grunts, and clanging metal. It wasn’t a guitar, but it was a string instrument. The pluck of strings was accompanied by someone singing: a girl with a smooth contralto. The camera passed by it, and Jack paused the video, rewound it, and replayed it.

“She’s playing.” Her hand movements were precise. From how her fingers moved, she was playing the instrument, not just moving her hands around while the system did the playing. The song sounded epic. It told the story of a prince slaying a dragon. As she kept singing, the group of players fighting glowed red, and the damage values grew significantly.

The giant bear, feeling overwhelmed, tried to run away. The music increased in tempo; this time, a blue glow shone on the party, and they chased the bear at an incredible speed. The girl holding a mandolin or a lute was the last to give chase, always playing and singing atop her horse.

“Hmm… So it’s a buffer profession. You play and sing, and your party gets bonuses…” He had seen this kind of musician class in other games before. He did want to make himself useful in party hunts, but he had never imagined going about it this way. Even if beekeepers had the potential to deal some damage in hunts, that seemed a skill that could only be unlocked at later levels. Perhaps it wasn’t a bad idea to stick to the [Bard] minor.

He scrolled down to the comments section.

DandyMandy: Woah! Is that a bard? I’d never seen one in the game! How can I become one?

DannyUli: Hi there! I noticed that a player was singing and playing. Does anyone have information on that?

PeterPig: I’m willing to negotiate IRL payment for information on how to become a musician. Please PM me.

That was why there was not much information available online. Players who had learned the profession hadn’t bothered to share it with others. Jack scrolled through the loose posts mentioning musicians in New Earth and confirmed his suspicion. Knowledge about this minor was kept under tight wraps. In that case, he had just struck gold.

He gave Master Kevin an appreciative look. He had underestimated this NPC and all the shenanigans he was up to while down here. He kept rotating between tasks. Was this the way the developers had come up with to show new handymen some of the potential of their class? He should try to come here once in a while, but for now, he wanted to make his first ocarina and become a beekeeper.

“Master Kevin, I’m heading out!”

The NPC just waved him off without even bothering to look at him. He only had eyes for whatever was cooking inside that pot. Jack climbed up the ladder and left the little shack with a smile on his face. He had gone into this shack without a class and level seven. Now, he was level 10, had a hidden class, and a rare minor to boot! Things were starting to look up for him.

Jack walked over to the coach station and found something different about the town. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was, so shrugging, he walked over to the coach station and was lucky enough to find a wagon with three players already. The moment he boarded, the coach driver announced their departure.

Looking over his traveling companions, he realized why he’d felt things had changed around town. The other three passengers had shields, spears, helmets, or random pieces of equipment received from completing quests. Jack, however, was only wearing simple gray clothes. He had looked like a total pro when he came, but after learning the handyman class, all that equipment had become incompatible.

The coach driver shook the reins, the horses neighed, and the wagon took off. Jack saw Bright Hill become smaller, and his eyelids grew heavy. Instead of fighting the drowsiness, he closed his eyes and let the wagon rock him to sleep. Jack thought of an astronaut going into cryogenic sleep before their spaceships took off space. He wondered if that was where the developers had come up with their idea for traveling in the game.

Then, just as he reached the final step between being awake and dreaming, he remembered Lydia’s blue eyes, beaming smile, and soft hands. He remembered her giggle on their first date and her tears when she broke up with him. He missed her.

As Jack and the other passengers fell asleep, the wagon lost all pretenses of realism and became a streak of light heading toward Embersgate.